Friday, February 27, 2015

A post aimed primarily at my extended family who occasionally wanders by.Yesterday time spent some time with my youngest son, FDIL, grandkids and their cats and dogs at Fort Carson, home to his unit. He is being medically discharged.

For the past three-plus years, he has been on detached duty at Dugway, UT as a 68W Health Care Specialist (Medic).

His body has been damaged to the point he cannot continue to serve. He would rather stay in but that is not an option at this point.Thankfully, both the Army and the VA are doing right by him, due in part, I'm sure, to his forceful personal advocacy.Next week they will be on their way to upstate South Carolina where he has an EMT type job waiting and a home they are buying.Enjoyed my time with them and am looking forward to visiting them in SC. Just for the record, my grandkids are way cuter than yours.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Last week went into the local DMV office to get a printed copy of my driver's record. It can't be, for whatever reasons, done online. The lady informed me the wait was two+ hours. However, I could make an appointment online. Went online, and the first available appointment was four working days away. Muttering, I went ahead and made an appointment.

Yesterday arrived a few minutes before my scheduled time. The place was packed. After my third attempt at using the touch screen, I received my ticket. While checking my number, it was called!!
Five minutes and $2.20 later, I walked out the door with my print out. Didn't even have time to work up a proper snit.

Although it pains me to say it, sometimes working with the system works.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

My sister delights in stories where I live up to my blog title. Today she had a new one to amuse her.

One of my activities is property inspections and reports. The assignment today was 50+ interior photos of an abandoned/foreclosed house for a forthcoming online auction listing. One of the requirements is all doors must be closed. When I went to exit the room, found the latch to be broken. Yepper, locked myself in an empty bedroom, in a vacant house, with only car keys for tools. In the end, called 911 for help.

A very nice officer showed up. (When did cops start looking like teenagers?) He couldn't open the door either but went to his vehicle and returned with a large screwdriver that slid under the door. I used it on the latch and got the door open. He turned out to be an Animal Control officer. Guess the dispatcher decided if the officer could get a cat out of a tree, he could get an old fool out of a locked room.

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Received a request for a flying story. What follows was an adventure by my late father.Back story. Steamboat Springs, CO airport has a North- South runway built on a small bluff. Taking off to the South you immediately have 200' of altitude.My father took a co-worker for a ride. My father, with a full belly, maybe weighed 165 lbs. His co-worker was more like 400 lbs.They took off to the South. Per my father, the takeoff roll was longer than usual but he got airborne (ground effect probably helped). Off the end of the runway, he immediately started losing altitude. Turning West, he followed the Yampa River towards many hay fields. After about an hour, he had gained enough altitude to return to the airport (barely).His co-worker thanked him for a great ride; thought everything was normal. My father soon upgraded to a C-182 but was very careful thereafter about who rode with him in the Puddy Four. 7,000 altitude and 85 hp on a balmy 60 degree day doesn't leave much of a performance margin.We both learned to fly in that J-4. What a fun, forgiving airplane. Our first instructor was a missionary pilot six months a year in Central America. Probably didn't follow the FAA prescribed syllabus, but what we learned was valuable. How many students actually do off airport landings?

Friday, February 13, 2015

1957 Chevy two-door hardtop with 63,000 showing on the odometer. Unmolested daily driver with one very small rust bubble.

Interior is very clean with new looking carpet. Unknown upholstery but some stitching giving way.

It is not for sale. The owner has turned down many offers. She tells me she and her husband are the original owners. The car has vast sentimental value to her and she is not hurting for money.Wonder what it is worth? I know there are otherwise intelligent people that are Chevrolet fans who would go crazy for this car. If it was a 1957 Crown Vic I would be the one going crazy.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

So here goes WSF opening himself up for a shitload of criticism.Vaccinate your kids, measles epidemic, idiot parents, and settled science shout the headlines and news stories. Settled science? Where have we heard that before?When you watch one of your children go from a happy bubbling toddler to a withdrawn barely functioning human, you start looking for answers. You don't find them, but you remember just a few weeks before the change, this child had multiple inoculations and then developed a high fever and was sick for several days. The child who grew into an adult still deals daily with socialization problems and sensory abnormalities.Now Dr. WSF makes some rash statements. Vaccines are a shock to the immune system. Not all immune systems are equally strong. Not all vaccine producers are as concerned with their quality as they are with their bottom line. Using mercury, in any amount, as a preservative is criminal. Multiple inoculations are a convenience for the health care providers with the side motivation to "get them while we can because they might not come back".Where can you find the largest group of healthy, fit adults? How about the armed forces. Perhaps after he retires I can talk my 68W Army Medic son into writing something about vaccinations, especially anthrax, and the problems he and his fellow medics deal with. Hopefully, he will share how he has handled the issue with his five children.I encourage all veterans to think back to basic training days when we lined up, had both arms swabbed, and the pressure guns injected us. Remember those men who made a few steps and then hit the ground and the medics on duty hauled them away? Remember that some never came back to our units?I do advocate vaccinations, in general. I do believe there are safer ways to administer them than the current practices and encourage parents to insist on single inoculations spread out over time, especially measles, mumps, and rubella.Yes, a pain in the ass for all concern. What else is new when it comes to raising children?

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Fast food is something I seldom eat. When I do it is usually Wendy or our new Steak and Shake. I've come down with serious crud too many times after eating at Mickey's to make that mistake again (three weeks ago - fool me). Went inside to use the restroom. I hate to be a mooch so I always try to buy something. In this case, a triple burger for $2. Spent the next four days with flu-like symptoms. Recently had 45 minutes to kill around 2 pm so went inside a nearby KFC and A&W combo restaurant. The chicken prices were plain stupid, but they had a burger plus drink special and I like their root beer. I ate inside.Though retired, the many years spent in retail environments have left their mark, so to speak. First thing that made an impression was an employee on her break, sprawled across four stools, and yapping loudly on her cell phone. Her language was vulgar, to say the least. This, in a public area at her place of employment.Next, I tried to find a clean table. Obviously, nothing had been cleaned since their noon hour rush, no floors swept, no chairs lined up although I didn't see any trash on the floor. While using the restroom, I once again was glad I'm a male.They seemed to be doing a steady business in their drive in window so maybe they don't care about the inside facility.Why do I care? Probably for the same reason I can't stand to see machinery abused. A place of business is in the same category. Yes, I'm rapidly becoming a grumpy old man.This business is close by my new dwelling, but my patronizing again them probably won't happen.What has happened to pride in your job? I've had jobs where I was underpaid, but I did the work at a high standard while I looked for something better. My work said who I was, not the cheap bastard who hired me. End of rant.

Search This Blog

About Me

Semi retired road warrior, car salesman, occasional repo man. Father of three fine sons. Once a Blue Dog Democrat. Once a soldier; once a pilot. Rolling along life's highway proving there is no fool like an old fool.